Last weekend, one of the best instructional camps of the fall took place and it wasn’t in California, Florida or even Texas.

The event was the Next Level Fastpitch Camp and it was held Sept. 13-14 in Rosemount, Minn.

Over 100 players from around the Midwest—including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, North and South Dakota and Kansas—showed up at the Irish Sports Dome to get instruction from top coaches and even one of the best players currently in the game, Madison Shipman, the All-World player from Tennessee who just finished her rookie season in the NPF by helping the USSSA Pride win the NPF title.

The Next Level Camp was run by John Corn of Next Level Fastpitch and Michelle Harrison of Strike Zone Sports and both of whom are head coaches in the Lady Lightning organization (John with NC Lady Lightning and Michelle with Lady Lightning Gold Midwest).

“This was the first camp of this magnitude to ever be held in the Minnesota market,” said Michelle today. “And this was the first time a camp has been held in the state that has featured a coaching line up of this caliber all in the same place at the same time.”

Among the notable coaches who helped at the event were:

• Stephanie VanBrakle, Assistant Coach at Alabama
• Boo Gillette, Assistant Coach at Arizona State
• Scott Woodard, Assistant Coach at Auburn University
• Shane Bouman, Head Coach at Indiana State
• Jessica Allister, Head Coach at Minnesota
• Mary Jo Firnbach, Associate Head Coach at North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Jamie Trachsel, Co-Head Coach at North Dakota State
• Chelsea Spencer, Assistant Coach at Oregon
• Jill Karwoski, Head Coach at Quinnipiac
• Madison Shipman, Student Volunteer Assistant Coach at Tennessee

The strong array of coaches at the Next Level Fastpitch Camp represented some of the tope conferences in the country including the SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big-10, Summit League, MAAC and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Seven of the 10 schools represented at this camp participated in the NCAA Regional Tournament in 2014 and four made it to Super Regionals. Oregon competed into the semi finals of the Women’s College World Series and Alabama fell just short of the title in the Championship series.

The camp was broken down into three sessions of 30-35 players each, with two sessions held on Saturday and one on Sunday. All aspects of the camp in all three sessions were held inside the Irish Sports Dome, a permanent indoor facility that is heavily utilized for fastpitch training and indoor games during the winter in the Minnesota market.

One of the focuses of the camp, according to the organizers, was to make sure the athletes received a lot of personal attention.

“The interaction between coach and player was outstanding, with participants enjoying as low as a 1:3 coach to player ratio during the camp,” continued Harrison.

Stephanie VanBrakle (Alabama), Boo Gillette (Arizona State) and Shane Bouman (Indiana State) worked in small group sessions with the pitchers, while Jessica Allister (Minnesota) and Jamie Trachsel (North Dakota State) worked in small groups with catchers.

Mary Jo Firnbach (North Carolina), Jill Karwoski (Quinnipiac) and Madison Shipman (Tennessee) headed up drill work with the infielders, while Scott Woodard (Auburn) worked with the outfielders. Chelsea Spencer (Oregon) worked with both infielders and outfielders throughout the weekend.

Once the participants worked through position-specific training, all coaches came together to work the offensive components of the game. But before the girls were split into groups, the camp participants got quite the surprise.

Madison Shipman, the NPF Rookie of the Year and All-American shortstop for the Vols, put on a live hitting display. Ball after ball flew into the wall of the Dome over the home run fence or on a line into the gap.

“John (Corn) even got her on the Zepp sensor tool to quantify what a phenomenal hitter she is,” Harrison said. “It was amazing to watch a professional show how consistent her swing could be from pitch to pitch.”

Shipman gave the campers something to strive for during their offensive training.

While several coaches did tee work and front toss inside cages, other coaches worked with outfielders shagging balls hit off of live pitching, delivered by Scott Woodard and Chelsea Spencer. Meanwhile, Jamie Trachsel instructed a base running station to cover many components that are often overlooked and under instructed in a camp environment.

After working through defense and offense drill sets, it was time to break the campers into teams and scrimmage live against one another.

Trachsel and Shipman coached the bases and Bouman, Woodard and Allister took turns umpiring. The girls got an opportunity to apply the instruction they received during position-specific and offensive drill work and compete against one another.

“The coaches did a great job correcting and analyzing what the campers did in live game situations,” Harrison said. “We scrimmaged for about an hour and a half, allowing all pitchers and catchers to get some time. Then we closed each camp session. The coaches thanked the campers for their enthusiasm and energy, and the players all got a chance to thank the coaches individually for the help they received throughout the camp.”

The Next Level organizers say they have received an outpouring of feedback from participants, parents, coaches and members of the Midwest fastpitch community.

“Everyone was excited and in some cases awestruck that the girls got so much interaction with such high level coaches,” concluded Michelle. “They cannot wait for us to host another camp like this.”

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About the Next Level organizers:

John Corn is the owner of Next Level Fastpitch, which has held four events so far with this type of format. For the last three years over Labor Day Weekend, John has hosted Next Level Fastpitch Camp in Myrtle Beach, S.C.. This is the first Next Level Fastpitch Camp that he has hosted in the Midwest market.

Michelle Harrison is the co-owner of Strike Zone Sports along with Sara Moulton, NPF player and former All-American pitcher from the University of Minnesota. Strike Zone Sports has been a fixture in the Minnesota market for the last decade, providing fastpitch training in private lesson and clinic formats. Strike Zone Sports has just taken the next step in business growth and rented its own facility in Eagan, MN. This 3,000 + square foot warehouse space will house Michelle Harrison, Sara Moulton, John Corn and other instructors to provide instruction primarily in pitching and hitting. It will also provide practice space for teams looking for a winter training facility, something high in demand and low in supply in Minnesota during the snowy months.

Be sure to check out our Next Level Camp photo gallery by clicking here!